Spanakopita

I bought this lovely book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence written by the comedian/actress Amy Sedaris. Its very entertaining and funny and has tons of recipes (that are not fake :). The best part that I like about this book is the retro-looking pictures of the food. It reminds me of my grandmother and all her old cookbook and recipe books from the 1960s. I highly recommend at least taking a look at this book the next time you go to the bookstore. The cover is gorgeous as well. ;)

So here is the recipe for Spanakopita or Greek Spinach pie. The filling turned out very tasty and didn't have an overly strong taste of greens. I actually used all fresh spinach for this recipe even though it calls for 30 ounces of frozen spinach. I don't really recommend this as you'll have to boil up a stockpot full of water and blanch all your spinach and then wring out the water. Well, you'll have to do that for the frozen spinach too but at least that's one less pot to clean. :P

Brushing each layer of the phyllo dough was very time consuming and as dinnertime was approaching fast I didn't do the whole entire 1 lb package. It still turned out fine and I've read some other recipes that used less phyllo dough.

Spanakopita

5 eggs
3 10-ounce packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted (ring out any water using cheesecloth or dishrag) Note: You can use equal amounts of fresh spinach weighing it AFTER blanching them in boiling water
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Olive Oil
2 bunches of chopped green onions, sauteed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Dill, fennel (optional)
3 tbsp of Parmesan cheese
1 1-pound of box of phyllo pastry
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a mixer or food processor, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add all ingredients (except for phyllo) and process. Note: I would put the ingredients in this order after the eggs: cream cheese, feta cheese, cottage cheese.. blend... spinach, green onions, parsley, parmesan cheese, and a dash of the olive oil... blend.
2. Butter a 9 x 13 x 3 inch pan. One sheet at a time, lay the phyllo dough into the pan and brush the butter onto each sheet inbetween. After about half the box, spread your spinach filling on top of the phyllo pastry. Continue with rest of phyllo dough until box is finished (or until you get tired of doing it :)
3. You can precut the pie at this point and place in the freezer until ready to bake. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is brown and crispy.